Chapter 206: Chapter 125: The Art of Killing with Praise

Night fell. The snow that had been falling all day finally stopped, and the weather grew even colder.

In the main bedroom in the rear courtyard of the Chen Family estate.

Chen Cheng sat at his desk, gazing at the Low Grade Muscle Strengthening Pill in his hand—only two-thirds of which remained—and shook his head slightly.

Today had been his most conscientious day of handling official duties. He’d had almost no time to slack off and focus on cultivating the Martial Dao.

First, he had been ambushed by Ren Fei, whom he’d killed in return. Then, he’d rushed the prisoner to the South City Prison for interrogation. After getting a confession, he’d moved to wipe out the Tiger and Leopard Gang. Following that, he had to deal with all sorts of cleanup matters. He’d been busy as a bee.

But for all the work, the rewards had been plentiful.

The three major cases in the Qingshui Pier area had been successfully solved. The culprits, Ren Fei and the Tiger and Leopard Gang’s Li Hu and his men, had all been brought to justice.

The Qingshui Pier area should be peaceful for a while. As for the upcoming Lishui Sub-Department assessment, he should be able to pass it smoothly. Chen Cheng might even rank first.

When that time comes, he would justifiably earn two Low Grade Muscle Strengthening Pills, which would be quite nice indeed.

Right now, in his cultivation of the Dragon Eagle Muscle Strengthening Technique, Chen Cheng was in a state of constant hunger. The only thing he lacked was Muscle Strengthening Pills. As long as he had enough, his cultivation speed would be as fast as a soaring rocket.

Due to this severe lack of Muscle Strengthening Pills, Chen Cheng had eagerly begun a cultivation session of his Dragon Eagle Muscle Strengthening Technique as soon as he got home and finished his meal, once again using up a third of the Low Grade Muscle Strengthening Pill.

’If I had a family background like Shen Qingshuang’s and never had to worry about my supply of Elixir Pills, how fast would my cultivation be? In this world, who could possibly be my match?’

After this silent thought, a hesitant look appeared on Chen Cheng’s face as he summoned his panel to check it.

[Name: Chen Cheng

Realm: Muscle Strengthening (Great Success)

Skills: Iron Armor Skill • Muscle Strengthening (Small Success 772/1000)

Dragon Eagle Muscle Strengthening Technique (Great Success 2118/10000)

Powerful Eagle Claw Skill (Perfection, Powerful Eagle Claw Stance 69358/100000)

Wind Chasing Saber Technique (Perfection, Wind Chasing Saber Stance) (Technique Deduction in Progress. Current Progress: 17/100. Upon completion, this technique can be promoted to a Superior Technique.)]

It would soon be the end of the year. The City Guard Department would give him two Low Grade Muscle Strengthening Pills. Add to that the two from Shen Qingshuang, and the remaining two-thirds of a pill he currently had.

His Dragon Eagle Muscle Strengthening Technique progress would increase by about 4600 points. After using them all, his progress would be at around 6700. He would only be about 3300 points away from Perfection, which was roughly the equivalent of four more Low Grade Muscle Strengthening Pills.

At his current cultivation speed, he could absorb the medicinal power of about two Low Grade Muscle Strengthening Pills in a month.

Once he got the year-end Low Grade Muscle Strengthening Pills, he would use them up in just over two months and have to wait again.

’When it comes to Muscle Strengthening Realm cultivation, Celestial Prides like Shen Qingshuang are limited by how fast they can digest and absorb the pills. I, on the other hand, am limited by not having enough pills for my cultivation.’

’They can’t eat any more, but I can’t get enough to eat!’

’Forget it. I’ll just take it one step at a time. After the new year, I’ll still only be nineteen. Reaching near-Perfection in the Muscle Strengthening Realm at this age is already incredibly fast!’

Putting away the Low Grade Muscle Strengthening Pill, Chen Cheng began to take stock of his other gains.

Compared to the Low Grade Muscle Strengthening Pill, his monetary gains this time were also very substantial. The silver notes, gold coins, and silver taels added up to more than seventy-five hundred taels of silver—a truly enormous sum.

And this was with him being careful about appearances. He had only pocketed the personal wealth of Ren Fei, Li Hu, Zhang Bao, and the other leaders. From the Tiger and Leopard Gang’s stash, Chen Cheng had only taken easily portable valuables like silver notes and gold coins.

He hadn’t touched the large silver ingots or copper coins in the chests. Otherwise, if Chen Cheng had been more ruthless, he wouldn’t have just gotten over seven thousand taels of silver; he could have embezzled at least ten thousand taels in silver coins.

Of course, even if he had decided to embezzle it, none of the constables under him would have objected.

During this raid on the Tiger and Leopard Gang, it wasn’t just Chen Cheng who got rich; the constables under him all managed to line their pockets with quite a bit of silver. Otherwise, Ma Zehua and the others wouldn’t have been so ruthless when raiding the gang’s gambling dens and brothels, killing so many of their members.

Naturally, Chen Cheng couldn’t be bothered to manage them. After all, the members of the Tiger and Leopard Gang were all ruthless characters who committed every evil imaginable and killed without batting an eye. If they were killed, so be it.

From the wealth seized from the Tiger and Leopard Gang, Chen Cheng first took out a portion to return to the three victims. For Shu Xiuming and Gentry Li, he returned the amounts they had reported in their cases, which only came to a few hundred taels of silver coins.

As for Gentry Zhang’s family, he returned over two thousand taels of silver, which was roughly the amount stolen by the Tiger and Leopard Gang. This was considered a way of bringing closure to the case of the Gentry Zhang family’s massacre.

There wasn’t much silver left after that, so Chen Cheng turned it over to the Lishui Sub-Department. Of course, a good portion of that money would be counted toward the regular tribute from Jianghu Gangs that Chen Cheng was responsible for collecting, chalking it up as one of his political achievements.

This way of handling things was entirely in line with the City Guard Department’s regulations and was both fair and reasonable. Even Ji Jingbei wouldn’t be able to find a single fault with it.

With a net worth of over seven thousand taels of silver, he had enough to go to the Black Market and buy Black Gold to increase his weight training.

But the Black Market was too dangerous. There were even Bone Forging Realm Martial Artists who frequented the place. Since he hadn’t yet figured out the ins and outs, it wasn’t wise to take the risk.

’I’ll observe for a while longer. I’ll wait until I’ve cultivated the Momentum for my Powerful Eagle Claw Skill, used up all the Low Grade Muscle Strengthening Pills I can get, and further increased my strength. Only when I can barely contend with a Bone Forging Realm Martial Artist will I reconsider.’

In the end, Chen Cheng decided to play it safe for now.

...

In the Lotus Pier area, every corner of the Zhou Family estate was brightly lit.

In the main hall of the spacious and magnificent Double Courtyard, Zhou Hongjun sat on a large couch made of purple sandalwood, his expression grim.

Zhou Xu sat in a guest’s seat to the side, his gaze equally gloomy and filled with displeasure.

The two of them had just learned what had happened to the Tiger and Leopard Gang and had rushed over to demand an explanation.

The affairs of the Zhou Family were largely managed by the father and son duo, Zhou Hongjun and Zhou Xu. Zhou Hongda was only responsible for the Lishui District, and he had to report all important matters to these two.